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AN  ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 


AMERICAN  COLONIZATION  SOCIETY, 

JAN  UA  R Y 16,  1877, 


y 

Hon.  JOHN  H.  B.  LATROBE. 


•PUBLISHED  Sr  "REQUEST. 


WASHINGTON  CITY: 

Colonization  Building,  450  Pennsylvania  Avenue. 

1877. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/christianciviliz00latr_2 


ADDRESS. 


Members  of  the  American  Colonization  Society, 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

In  the  year  1853,  Mr.  Everett,  addressing  the  Anniversary  Meeting 
of  that  year,  said: 

“ Sir : I believe  that  Africa  will  be  civilized,  and  civilized  by  the 
descendants  of  those  torn  from  the  land.  I believe  it,  because  I will  ’ 
not  think  that  this  great  fertile  continent  is  to  be  forever  left  waste  ; 

I believe  it,  because  I see  no  other  agency  competent  to  the  task ; I 
believe  it,  because  1 see  in  this  agency  a wonderful  adaptation.” 

It  was  no  new  thought  that  Mr.  Everett  uttered  on  this  occasion  ; 
but,  falling  from  his  lips,  these  words  had  the  weight  due  to  his  char- 
acter as  an  acute  observer,  a profound  thinker,  an  experienced  states- 
man, and  an  accomplished  orator. 

It  was  a long,  dim  vista  through  which,  with  prophetic  eye,  he 
gazed  when  he  uttered  them.  Since  then,  day  to  day,  the  prospect 
has  been  brightening,  until,  now,  even  the  most  incredulous  may  see 
the  end  that  he  foretold. 

The  standpoint  which  Mr.  Everett  occupied,  however,  commanded 
a far  wider  view  than  that  which  the  earlier  colonizationists  enjoyed 
thirty-seven  years  before,  in  1816.  A thick  darkness  then  rested  upon 
their  way,  which  it  needed  the  eye  of  a strong  and  abiding  faith  to 
penetrate.  Such  was  the  faith  of  Finley,  and  Bushrod  Washington, 
and  Harper,  and  Randolph,  and  Clay,  and  Key,  and  Mercer,  and 
many  another,  whose  names  have  now  become  historical  in  connection 
with  our  cause. 

The  address  of  Mr.  Everett  in  1853  was  made  at  the  time  when  a 
new  interest  seemed  about  to  be  taken  in  Africa  and  things  African. 
At  that  date,  almost  all  that  was  known  about  the  continent  beyond 
its  mere  edges  had  been  learned  from  Bruce  and  Park,  Denham  and 
Clapperton,  Caille,  the  Landers,  and  Barth.  Bruce  had  sought  the 
fountains  of  the  Nile,  which  he  fancied  he  had  found  in  Abyssinia. 
Park  had  crossed  the  mountains  from  the  head  waters  of  the  Gambia 
to  the  Niger ; had  visited  Timbuctoo,  and  was  murdered  at  Boussa 


4 


when  descending  the  river  in  the  hope  of  unveiling  the  mystery  of  its 
mouth.  Caille  had  made  a detour  from  the  Rio  Nunez,  struck  and 
crossed  the  Niger  high  up,  and  reached  the  ocean  again  in  Morocco. 
Denham  and  Clapperton  had  made  their  way  from  Tripoli  across  the 
desert,  discovered  the  lake  Tchad,  and  aroused  attention  by  the  pub- 
lication of  their  travels  in  1824.  Lander,  going  north  from  Badagry, 
on  the  way  to  the  lake,  was  taken  prisoner  when  he  reached  the 
Niger,  and,  being  carried  by  his  captors  down  the  river  to  the  sea, 
became  in  this  way  the  discoverer  of  its  mouth,  or  many  mouths,  in 
the  delta  between  the  great  Bights  of  Benin  and  Biafra.  Barth,  with 
Richardson  and  Overweg,  crossed  the  desert  to  Timbuctoo,  and  trav- 
eling widely  through  the  Niger  countries,  published,  in  1853,  by 
far  the  most  elaborate  and  satisfactory,  if  not  the  most  entertaining 
account  that  had  yet  appeared  of  Central  Africa. 

Since  1853  the  exploration  of  the  continent  has  been  far  more  active 
than  it  ever  was  before,  and  the  public  interest  in  Africa  seems  to  have 
grown  in  proportion. 

In  the  last  century  there  were  but  four  attempts  at  exploration, 
excluding  Park,  whose  second  and  most  fruitful  journey  was  in  1805. 
In  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  there  were  but  three, 
including  even  Caille,  whose  travels  did  not  end  until  1828.  In  the 
second  quarter  we  have  but  five  ; while  for  the  third  quarter  and  down 
to  this  time  there  have  been  more  than  twenty,  counting  those  only 
whose  names  are  well  known  as  contributors  to  our  knowledge  of  the 
interior  of  Africa. 

With  Mr.  Everett’s  address,  or,  at  all  events,  cotemporaneous  with 
it,  may  be  said  to  have  revived  the  spirit  of  African  exploration. 

During  the  period  here  referred  to  Liberia  had  been  founded,  and 
was  growing  slowly  but  surely,  increasing,  as  she  is  still  increasing,  in 
strength,  so  as  to  become  fitted  some  day  for  the  destiny  foretold  for 
her — to  vindicate  her  competency  for  the  agency  that  Mr.  Everett 
assigned  to  her — to  prove,  to  use  his  words,  “her  wonderful  adapta- 
tion to  the  work”  of  civilizing  Africa;  to  do  for  Africa  what  the  set- 
tlements of  Plymouth  and  Jamestown,  weaker  far  in  their  early  history 
than  Liberia  has  ever  been,  have  in  the  end  done  for  America;  with 
this  mighty  difference,  that  here  in  America  the  white  race  has  sub- 
jugated, trampled  upon,  and  will,  sooner  or  later,  extirpate  the  red 
race  that  it  found  here,  leaving  it  a tradition  only;  while  the  black 
race  of  Africa,  “civilized,”  to  use  again  the  words  of  Mr.  Everett, 
“by  the  descendants  of  those  torn  from  the  land,”  will  have  only 


5 


reason  to  rejoice  in  the  numbers  that  leave  America  to  find  in  Africa 
their  home. 

So  great  a result  as  the  orator  foretold  is  never  brought  about  upon 
the  instant.  Long  preparation  precedes  it  always.  Circumstances 
often  apparently  antagonistic  are  in  the  end  found  to  have  been,  in 
some  unexpected  way,  combined  to  produce  it.  In  this  case,  a popu- 
lation, estimated  by  late  writers  at  199,000,000,  of  whom,  says  the 
same  authority,  scarcely  one  per  cent,  can  be  set  down  as  civilized 
men,  and  little  more  than  ten  per  cent,  as  semi-civilized  even,  was  to 
be  wrought  upon.  The  mere  statement  of  the  proportion  is  appall- 
ing. Measure  the  chances  of  success  by  all  past  experience.  Look 
at  the  fields  where  the  labors  of  white  missionaries  have  been  the  most 
encouraging.  Count  the  number  of  their  converts  and  subtract  it 
from  199,000,000.  Ask  the  zealous  and  devoted  men  and  women 
who,  for  forty  years  and  more,  have  labored  on  the  paboon,  on  the 
Cavalla,  and  elsewhere  on  the  continent,  to  enumerate  their  communi- 
cants, and  then  let  us  judge  for  ourselves  what  impression  they  are  at 
all  likely  to  make  upon  this  enormous  mass.  And  yet  we  all  agree 
that  this  work,  mighty  as  it  is,  has  to  be  done.  As  philanthropists 
merely  we  would  wish  to  believe  that  it  will  be  done.  As  Christians, 
blessed  with  prophecy  and  revelation,  it  is  our  duty  to  believe  it  will 
be  done.  Then  comes  the  constantly-recurring  question,  but  how  is 
it  to  be  done  ? And  the  answer  is  to  be  made  in  the  language  which 
has  been  used  as  the  text  of  this  address:  It  is  to  be  done  by  “the 
descendants  of  those  torn  from  the  land ; ” not  by  one  or  two,  or  one  or 
two  hundred  white  missionaries  scattered  here  and  there  over  Africa, 
like  the  “ rari  nantes  in  gurgite  vasto  ” of  Virgil,  but  by  a missionary- 
nation  from  across  the  sea,  absorbing  into  itself,  as  the  ages,  if  you 
please,  roll  on,  those  whom  it  came  to  teach.  Towards  such  a result 
circumstances  apparently  antagonistic  seem  to  have  been  tending. 

Who  could  have  imagined  that,  when  Henry  de  Vasco  of  Portugal 
began  to  creep  with  his  timid  expeditions  along  the  Western  Coast  of 
Africa,  they  would  ever  bear  upon  subjects  like  the  present?  Who 
could  have  foreseen  that  the  slave  trade,  which  then  originated  in  the 
greed  of  the  Portuguese  adventurers,  was  to  have  an  influence  upon 
the  civilization  of  Africa  and  the  spread  of  the  Gospel?  Who  could 
have  predicted  that  even  the  horrors  of  the  middle  passage  would  tend 
in  the  same  direction  by  arousing  the  feeling  that  put  an  end  to  the 
inhuman  traffic,  only,  however,  after  there  had  been  placed  in  Amer- 
ica hundreds  of  thousands  of  Africans,  whose  descendants,  by  long 


6 


ontact  and  association  with  the  white  race,  would  become  so  imbued 
with  its  i h jracteristics  as  to  be  able  to  do  for  Africa  what  that  race 
had  done  fjr  them;  a result  which  the  daily  intercourse  of  generations 
on  generations  alone  seems  competent  to  effect. 

We  see  all  this  now;  and  looking  back  from  the  standpoint  of  to- 
dav,  we  can  follow  the  sequence  of  events  and  see  the  combination  of 
circumstances  as  distinctly  as  we  can  trace  the  course  of  a river  and  the 
tributaries  from  manv  quarters  that  go  to  swell  its  volume  upon  the  map. 

Nor,  in  connection  with  the  agency  which  Liberia  is  to  have  in  the 
civilization  of  Africa,  must  we  overlook  a peculiarity  of  the  people 
upon  whom  it  is  to  operate  and  which  makes  it  of  so  much  import- 
ance, It  is  not  to  be  forgotten  that  while  Europe  has  developed,  from 
w ithin,  the  highest  culture  of  which  man  here  below  seems  to  be  sus- 
ceptible; while  Chinese  civilization  has  existed  from  remote  times; 
while  India  under  its  native  princes,  long  ages  before  the  day  of  Clive 
ar.d  Hastings,  had  its  science  and  its  art,  and  exhibited  in  its  architect- 
ure such  beauty  as  is  illustrated  in  the  Taj  Mahal  at  Agra;  while 
Mexico  and  Peru  had  made  the  advances  that  Cortes  and  Pizarro 
found  there  ; while  the  same  may  be  said  of  Japan  that  has  been  said 
of  China — yet  the  native  African  is,  to-day,  what  the  paintings  on 
Egyptian  tombs  represent  him  to  have  been  when  he  figured  in  the 
processions  that  swelled  t he  triumphs  of  the  kings  in  whose  reigns 
were  built  the  pyramids,  the  temples,  and  the  palaces  whose  ruins 
crowd  the  borders  of  the  Nile. 

Certainly,  then,  it  is  only  a fair  inference  that,  with  but  an  inferior 
faculty  of  self- development,  the  civilization  of  Africa  must  coine  from 
without,  and  not  from  within,  her  borders.  And  where  is  it  to  come 
from,  save  from  America — from  the  nation  of  missionaries  here  pre- 
pared for  the  purpose,  “ the  descendants  of  those  torn  from  the  land  ?” 
This  is  the  agency  by  which  the  work  is  to  be  done.  And  never  were 
truer  words  spoken  than  when  Mr.  Everett  said,  “ I see  no  other 
agency  competent  to  the  task;  I see  in  this  agency  a wonderful  adapt- 
ation.” 

Looking  forward  to  the  remoteness  of  the  end,  it  is  as  far  off  to-day 
as  it  was  when  Mr.  Everett  spoke.  The  twenty-four  years  that  have 
elapsed  may  be  counted  as  an  hour  only  of  the  time  that  must  inter- 
vene before  all  men  shall  admit  that  the  great  result  has  been  accom- 
plished. But  the  happening  of  it  is  not  the  less  sure  ; and  all  that 
has  yet  taken  place  in  this  connection  but  strengthens,  or  ought  to 
strengthen,  our  faith  in  it. 


I 


It  is  very  true  that  when,  in  1 8 1 6,  the  American  Colonization 
Society  was  formed,  the  vast  majority  of  the  descendants  of  these  “ torn 
from  the  land  ” in  the  United  States  were  slaves,  and  that  now  there 
is  not  a single  slave  in  all  our  wide  domain  ; and  there  may  be  those 
who  will  argue  that  with  all  avocations,  in  all  the  walks  of  life,  open  to 
all ; with  the  highest  political  distinction  within  the  reach  of  all ; there 
is  far  less  motive  for  emigration  than  when  color  was  a disqualifying 
badge  in  a thousand  offensive  ways.  And  the  same  persons  may  point 
to  the  high  positions  honorably  filled  bv  men  who,  twenty  years  ago, 
were  either  slaves  or  the  descendants,  more  or  less  remotelv,  of  slaves, 
as  creating  an  inducement  to  remain  in  America  more  potent  than  any 
that  formerly  existed. 

The  argument  on  these  grounds  is  a weak  one.  The  closer  the 
assimilation  which  contact  and  association  for  generations  on  genera- 
tions have  brought  about  between  the  two  races  in  those  characteristics 
which  fit  men  to  influence  men  in  the  interests  of  civilization,  the 
more  capable  is  the  Africo-American  of  taking  upon  himself  the  work 
that  is  yet  to  be  performed  in  Africa — the  wider  the  field  opened  to 
his  ambition  in  a land  where,  free  from  the  overshadowing  competi- 
tion of  a different  race,  he  may  do  the  work  which  he  and  his  are 
alone  competent  to  perform.  That  he  will  perform  it,  all  things 
seem  to  indicate  in  the  preparations  that  have  so  long  been  going  for- 
ward Among  these  not  the  least  important  and  significant  are  the 

explorations  that  have  been  extending  our  knowledge  of  the  continent 
and  its  people.  They  have  shown  that  in  no  part  of  the  globe  are 
the  treasures  of  the  mine,  the  soil,  and  the  forest  more  abundant;  while 
nowhere  else  has  nature  been  more  prodigal  of  beauty ; and  the 
journeyings  of  Speke,  and  Burton,  and  Grant,  and  Livingstone,  and 
Schvveinfurth,  and  Cameron,  and  Stanley  have  created  an  interest  in 
Africa  before  unfelt:  and,  to-day,  the  return  of  Stanley  is  anticipated 
by  thousands  as  letting  on  still  more  the  light  of  day,  so  to  speak, 
upon  what  has  been  tbe  dark  interior  of  this  quarter  of  the  globe. 

It  is  only  within  a few  months  that  one  of  the  most  intelligent  and 
enlightened  monarchs  of  Europe  convened  in  Brussels  a Congress  of 
geographers,  men  of  science,  distinguished  African  travelers,  and  others, 
with  a view  to  the  concentration  of  effort  in  this  direction,  so  that 
exploration  might  be  carried  on,  not  sporadically,  but  upon  a system 
having  especial  regard  to  this  great  matter  of  civilization.  It  was  with 
profound  regret  that  the  speaker  found  himself  unable  to  accept  the 
invitation  that  his  office  of  President  of  the  American  Colonization 


8 


Society,  no  doubt,  procured  for  him,  to  be  present  at  the  meeting  at 
Brussels  on  the  i ith  September  last,  as  the  guest  of  King  Leopold,  if 
for  no  other  reason  than  because  he  lost  the  opportunity  of  expressing, 
and  elaborating,  and  justifying,  as  he  has  endeavored  to  do  this  even- 
ing, the  views  that  have  been  made  the  subject  of  this  address. 

Should  it  be  said  that  the  scant  numbers  that  of  late  years  the  Soci- 
ety has  sent  to  Liberia  is  not  encouraging  in  this  connection;  the  an- 
swer is,  that  there  has  been  no  want  of  applicants  to  go  there.  The 
Society  could  have  sent  six  thousand  who  are  on  its  list,  had  it  pos- 
sessed the  means  to  send  them.  And  if  it  is  then  said,  that  this  very 
want  of  means  is  indicative  of  an  indifference  on  the  part  of  the  public 
which  is  inconsistent  with  that  increase  of  interest  in  Africa  which 
has  now  been  dwelt  upon,  it  may  be  answered  that  African  coloniza- 
tion must,  as  a matter  of  course,  be  independent,  as  regards  its  great 
ultimate  results,  of  the  means  to  be  furnished  by  a philanthropic  asso- 
ciation, no  matter  how  ample  its  endowment.  African  colonization 
differs  in  nowise  from  any  other  colonization — eastern  from  China  to 
America,  or  western  from  Europe  to  our  shores.  It  depends,  as  do 
all  others,  upon  the  attractions  of  the  new  home,  the  repulsions  of  the 
old  one,  or  upon  both  combined  ; and  when  it  does  take  place  it  must, 
like  that  which  now  takes  place  from  Europe  to  America,  be  volun- 
tary and  self-paying,  crossing  the  ocean  over  the  bridge  that  commerce 
makes  for  it.  The  function  of  the  American  Colonization  Society 
has  been  to  build  up  in  Africa  a nation  possessing  such  attractions, 
capable  of  self  support,  of  self-government,  civilized  and  Christian, 
recognized  as  a member  of  the  great  family  of  nations  through  honor- 
able treaties,  and  having  the  sympathy  of  the  whole  civilized  world, 
as  well  on  account  of  its  origin  as  for  its  purpose  and  its  destiny.  This 
the  Society  believes  that  it  has  accomplished  ; until  now,  as  the  fruit 
of  160  voyages,  upon  which  no  vessel  has  been  injured  by  wind  or 
wave,  not  one  lost  by  shipwreck,  it  has  received  in  Liberia  20,820  of 
the  descendants  of  those  torn  from  the  land;  an  English-speaking 
people,  whose  Government  is  modeled  after  our  own,  and  whose  suc- 
cess has  vindicated  beyond  all  question  the  ability  of  the  Africo- 
American  to  maintain  in  Africa  an  honorable  nationality,  capable  of 
the  amplest  development  in  all  the  best  qualities  of  civilization. 

That  this  will  have  the  attraction  that  will  in  the  end  make  Libe- 
ria the  mother  of  a great  missionary  nation,  all  things  seem  to 
promise;  and  the  end  can  no  more  be  stayed  by  the  condition  of  the 
Society’s  treasury,  this  year  or  the  next,  than  can  the  succession  of 


9 


the  years  themselves  be  affected  by  the  sunlights  or  the  shadows  of  their 
seasons  as  they  roll. 

There  is  a time  for  all  things;  a fullness  of  time,  when  all  things 
become  fit  for  the  event  that  is  to  take  place.  It  may  be  hastened  or 
retarded,  but  its  coming  cannot  be  prevented.  All  history  has  shown 
this,  and  illustrations  from  history  might  be  multiplied  indefinitely; 
and  were  gold  to  be  found  now,  as  explorations  already  made  in  Li- 
beria indicate  that  before  long  it  will  be,  within  as  easy  reach  of 
Monrovia  as  the  mines  of  California  were  within  reach  of  the  western 
States  of  the  Union,  or  as  those  of  Australia  were  within  reach  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Melbourne,  there  would  be  no  need  of  resorting  to  the 
treasury  of  the  Society  to  meet  the  expenses  of  emigration. 

Nor  is  Liberia  to  depend  upon  the  sacra  fames  auri  alone  for  its 
growth  and  prosperity.  There  are  causes  at  work  of  a very  different 
description,  and  which  will  continue  to  operate  until  the  intercourse 
between  Africa  and  America  shall  become  as  active  as  that  between 
Europe  and  America,  affording  facilities  for  an  emigration  eastward  as 
great  as  any  that  ever  came  westward  to  our  shores. 

Ingenuity  has  gone  even  beyond  the  demands  of  an  increasing  and 
ever-exacting  civilization.  The  looms  and  the  forges  and  the  work- 
shops of  Europe  and  America  produce  more  than  the  consumers  of 
Europe  and  America  and  the  other  known  markets  of  the  world  can 
pay  for.  All  markets  are  glutted  with  their  products.  New  mar- 
kets must  be  found,  or  the  whirl  of  the  spindle,  the  blast  of  the  fur- 
nace, and  the  ring  of  the  anvil  must  cease,  and  those  dependent  upon 
them  must  suffer.  When  starvation  marches  close  behind  the  com- 
petition that  produces  cheapness,  starvation  will  catch  up  as  soon  as 
cheapness  ceases  to  tempt  consumption.  In  a word,  to  leave  the 
figurative  for  the  fact,  new  markets  are  rapidly  becoming  a necessity. 
England  feels  this,  and  with  the  wise  forecast  of  her  statesmanship 
has  for  years  been  laboring  to  provide  for  it.  Comparatively  speak- 
ing, the  only  virgin  market  of  the  world,  to-day,  is  Africa.  America, 
too,  has  been  sensible  of  it;  and  the  emigrants  of  the  Society  are  taken 
to  Liberia  now  by  the  merchant-traders  from  New  York;  and  the 
readiest  means  of  communicating  with  Monrovia  or  Cape  Palmas  is 
by  way  of  England  by  two  lines  of  steamers  which  sail  from  Liver- 
pool continuing  their  voyages  along  the  Coast  as  far  east  as  the  Bight 
of  Benin. 

When  the  territory,  now  Liberia,  was  purchased  from  the  native 
kings  by  Commodore  Stockton  and  Dr.  Eli  Ayres  in  1821,  nothing 


10 


of  all  this  was  anticipated.  There  had  been,  as  we  have  seen,  no 
exploration  of  Africa,  no  spirit  of  exploration,  no  King  of  Belgium  to 
concentrate  and  systematize  such  a spirit.  The  most  profitable  article 
of  African  produce  was  man.  The  most  active  trader  along  the  Coast 
of  Liberia  was  the  slave  ship.  The  mills  of  England  had  ample 
markets  to  which  to  send  their  manufactures.  The  mills  of  America 
had  scarcely  an  existence.  A steam-engine  had  not  long  ceased  to 
be  a curiosity.  But  look  around  to-day.  How  vast,  how  wondrous, 
how  unexampled  the  change.  Its  details  it  were  idle  to  particularize. 
Our  subject  is  Africa;  and  it  is  in  connection  with  Africa  only  that 
these  things  are  referred  to.  Whatever  their  influence  in  other  direc- 
tions, their  tendency  unquestionably  is  to  bring  about  the  day  when 
America  shall  in  some  sort  pay  the  debt  she  owes  to  Africa  in  the 
fitness  which  “the  descendants  of  those  torn  from  the  land”  have 
acquired  during  their  long  and  weary  servitude — to  spread  over  this 
vast  continent  as  a thrice-blessed  garment,  civilization  and  the  gospel, 
fulfilling  wisely  and  beneficently  all  the  duties  of  the  agency  which, 
to  recur  again  to  the  words  of  Mr.  Everett,  is  alone  “ competent  to 
the  task.” 

Not  single  heralds  now  go  forth 
To  earn  Thy  smiles’  reward — 

To  preach  Thy  law,  proclaim  Thy  word, 

Redeemer,  Saviour,  Lord ; 

But,  bursting  through  the  thrall  of  years 
Their  fathers’  home  to  gain, 

A nation,  now,  exultant  bears 
Thy  truth  beyond  the  main. 


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